Citigroup Reiterates Neutral Rating for Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Citigroup in a report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $130.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their prior price target of $125.00. Citigroup’s target price suggests a potential downside of 1.85% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.62.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $132.45 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $90.94 and a 12 month high of $142.03. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $122.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $125.22. The company has a market cap of $212.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.55, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.29.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.39. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 14.98%. The company had revenue of $17.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.02 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $4,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 335,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,291,800. The trade was a 10.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total transaction of $95,456.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 96,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,545,403.20. This represents a 0.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 50,868 shares of company stock valued at $6,019,548 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 111.0% during the 1st quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

Morgan Stanley, a financial holding company, provides various financial products and services to corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. It operates through Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management segments.